Apparatus for feeding granular material



Jan. 7,' 1930. A. P. MEYER 1,742,716

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIAL Filed Feb. 13, 1925 4 Sheets-Shee t 1 ve'nkw PMsXf/i we. im

Jan. 7, 1930-. A. P. MEYER 1,742,716

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIAL Filed Feb. 15, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan.7, 1930. ARMEYE 1,742,716

FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIAL Filed Feb. 13, 1925 APPARATUS- FOR 4 Shets-Sheet 3 Jan. 7, 1930. A. MEYER 1,742,116

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIAL v Filed Feb. 13, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 4 w R W M Patented Jan. 7, 1930 warren STATES PATENT FHQE ALBERT P. MEYER, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T ALLEN S. DAVI- SON COIVIPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA Application filed February This invention relates to apparatus for feeding granular material to a conduit or pipe, through which it is to be delivered as a stream at a relatively low velocity by means of compressed air, the particular object in view being the repairing of the lining of basic open-hearth furnaces. Processes and apparatus for this purpose form the subject matter of my prior applications, Serial No.

1;) 538,732, filed February 2, 1922, and Serial No. 687,153, filed January 18, 1924, now Patents 1,655,558, dated Jan. 10, 1928, and 1,607,554, dated Nov. 16, 1926, respectively.

The conditions under which the material is required to be fed to the conduit or pipe, from the mouth of which it is directed to the desired spot, are fully set forth in the said applications, and the apparatus, which constitutes the present invention, has been deas signed for the purpose of providing different specific means for the regulation and control of the feed of the granular material and air to the conduit leading to the nozzle by which it is directed into the furnace.

An illustration of the present improvement appears in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation,

Fig. 2 an end elevation,

Fig. 8 a sectional elevation, similar to Fig. 1 but on a larger scale,

Fig. 4 a section through the pocketed feed wheel through which the compressed air is supplied, and

Fig. 5 is a section of the same, line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

In these views, I have shown merely the hopper bottom 1 of the tank, from which the material is supplied to the feeding means, to be described, and said tank may be similar to those of my said prior applications but, in the present instance, it is not essential (although advantageous) that it be closed at the top or that it be supplied with air under pressure.

The hopper bottom 1 is open at its lower end, which is curved in the arc of a circle struck from the axis of a feed wheel 2, which closes said opening except on one side, where the hopper wall terminates short, leaving a taken on APPARATUS FOR FEEDING GRANULAR MATERIAL 13, 1925. Serial No. 8,962.

space 3 for the passage of the material. The wheel 2, which has a smooth periphery, closing the hopper opening except on the side where said space 3 is left, is keyed on a shaft 4, also carrying a sprocket gear 5, driven from sprocket pinion 6 bychain 7, the shaft 8 of said pinion being driven, through gear 9 and pinion 10, by motor 11. Shaft 4 also carries sprocket gear 12, which 'drives,

through chain 13, sprocket gear 14, on shaft 15, mounted parallel to and below shaft 4, and which is hollow and has a slotted opening 16 in one side for the air, forced into it, to pass into the pockets 17 of the feed drum 18, rotat ably mounted on shaft 15, as the slots 19, in the hub of said drum, come successively" opposite said opening. i

Drum ment 20 of the casing 21, communicating at its top with the down-spout 22, slotted on one side for the reception of a portion of the rim of the feed wheel 2, and communicating at its bottom with the conduit 23, through which the stream of mater'ial is conveyed by the accompanying air under pressure to the hose 24 and nozzle (not shown) by which it is projected into the furnace. e i

The feed drum, as stated, is'divided into V-shaped pockets by the radial partition walls 25, and the bottom or apex of each pocket has slotted passages-19, which come successivelyinto alinement with the opening 16 in the hollow fixed shaft 15. Air under pressure being supplied into one endof said shaft, the other end 26 of Which is closed, passes through opening 16 into each of the pockets successively, the opening :16 being located, of course, in the lower side of the shaft directly above the end of the conduit 23.

The material, therefore, is expelled from the pocket, assisted ,by gravity,and passes into the conduit and hose thoroughly mixed with the compressed air, whereby the same advantageous effects are obtained which are fully set forth in my aforesaid prior applications. lVhen or if found desirable, an additional 18 revolves in the circular enlargesupply of air may be lead into the pipe at some point between the conduit 23 and the nozzle. It will be seen that the inertia of the material, as it lies in the hopper 1, is first overice come by the moving rim of the wheel 2, on forced therefrom as each of said pockets is which the mass of material in the hopper presented in turn to said second-named conrests, and that there is therefore &

of the material becoming ammed in the mouth of said hopper. said wheel until, it falls through the spout 2 2 and casing 21 into-the pocketed feed drum 18, in which it is carried around until ejected into the conduit 28 by the air admitted at the apex of each pocket in turn, assisted by gravity. The size oft-he opening 3 may be made regulable by the sliding gate 27, to control the rate of feed of the matel ia-l by thefeed wheel Qr'.

WVhat I claim is 1. Apparatus for feeding granular material, comprising a hopper, a rotary feed wheel the periphery of which closes the mouth of said hopper except on one side, a down-spout nto h aid Wheel d l versth materia a casing into which said spout leads, a rotary pocketed feed drum in saidoasing, a hollow fixed shaft on which said drum rotates the bottom of each pocket having an opening; in it and said shaft having a slot in itslunderside,

whereby air forced into. said shaft enters the material in each pocket; successively as it;

reaches its lowest position and a conduit, 'leadlng from the bottom of said casing to receive the material and air,

2. Apparatus for; feeding granular material, comprising a storage tank; having ahopper bottom, a rotary feed wheel the rim of which closesthe mouth of said hopper except onone'-s id e, a spout secured to said hopper around, said open side, the; lower side of said spout being slotted to permit said wheel rim to passtherethrough, a easing into which said spout leads, a rotary feeddrum in'sai-d casing, a hollow shaft for air under pressure on which said drum rotates said shaft having a slot in its underside, radial walls in said drum dividing it into pockets, a slot in the bottom of each pocket, and a conduit, leading from the bottom of said casing;

3. Apparatus for feeding granular material into a conduit by means ofairunder pressure, comprising a hopper, an enlarged conduit forming an extension thereof,a rotatable member mounted in said conduit and provided with aplurality'of radial pockets, the said conduit being; of such width that a plurality of-said pockets are presentedthereto at all'ti1n,es,a second conduit of a width Substantially equal to the width of one of said radial pockets and adapted tov communicate with each of said pockets in turn as; the said rotatable memberis operated, a plurality of openings extending from the, innermost portions of said pockets to the central bore of said rotatable member, apipe extending into the bore of said rotatable member pro,- de t ope ing ire d; oward su h ewed-nam d nduit, whereby wh n air under pressure is forced through; said pipe g anu ate ma ria in saidpo kets will; be.

It is carried along by fi no danger duit.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto af- Xed my signature.

ERT P- EYE 

